My first StartWest…

My name is Greg Jordan and I’m a newbie. 

Not only am I new to the Wyoming Technology Business Center but I am new to the networking organizations: e2e and StartWest.  I took over for Heidi Peterson when she left in August and this will be my first opportunity to attend a StartWest event.   

It looks to be a great event, too.  We have a speaker lined up (Mike Thomas) who has “been there and done that” to the level that most of us with the entrepreneurial spark only dream of doing. 

I have to admit that I have not even dreamed of doing what he did:  co-founding a company that sold for over 100 million.  That’s a level of success that most of us don’t really get.  Yet he has done that and more including forming  venture capital company and a Lusk, Wyoming beef ranch.  I can’t wait to get some tips from him. 

Jon Benson (CEO of the Wyoming Technology Business Center) always makes me tell a little bit about myself when he introduces me so maybe I should do that here as well. 

I grew up in Western Kansas where my parents were both school teachers.  My Dad had a seemingly limitless flow of ideas for small businesses to do during the summers and I was cheap labor.  I think that’s where my own entrepreneurial spark started -  not far from the tree.  Of course like all children of that decade I rebelled and instead of pursuing a business of my own I did the exact opposite - I joined the military. 

After I got out of the military I went to undergraduate school and got my business degree.  Filled with ideas, excitement and brand new diploma I was quickly hit with a pile of school debt and slumping economy.  I ended up back working for the Federal Government where my military experience and a degree gave me a boost up the pay scale.  I moved to Denver and ignored my business dreams for the next ten years. 

A number of events lined up to allow me to get my graduate degree and jump out of the safety of the government GS pay scale and land in a shooting star company in Laramie.  Aspen Tree software gave me a taste of success.  Huge clients and a bigger than life entrepreneur made my spark turn into a burning desire.  When the company was sold and it was decided we would all have to move to Boulder, I declined. 

I started my own company using relational databases to connect with flash design dynamically.  It’s pretty old hat now but in ‘99 it was cutting edge.  We grew our company from 3 guys with a dream working out of a room the size of closet into 11 employees in two states.  Then came the dot bust and I was asked to move to Dallas.

Really, if Boulder did not make sense for me, Dallas made even less.  My wife and I started our own company providing technology training and assistance for people in their homes.  Unfortunately we did not have the assistance of people like Jon Benson or the technology incubator and we set ourselves up to fail with a debt financed start-up. 

So I got a job. I worked for the University for five years before I found my calling and luckily the people doing the hiring saw the fit. Now I get to help people grow their own businesses every day.  I hear about exciting products in Wyoming and get to be a part of the explosion of new technology and employment growth at it’s very beginning.  

That’s a little about me and our speaker for this coming Wednesday.  Please join us and take the time to look me up. I’d love to hear your story and see if there is some way I can help you achieve your dream.